Mlite83

Ha, that will be a story that will make you laugh for years to come!

I love number 6 but I think they are all beautiful and I'm sure you can't go wrong with what ever you end up with!

Our guests are paying just under $1500 all in for flight, taxes and 7 nights. Most people have thought it is a good price for a 5 star but we have had one friend who made a point in telling us how he went to Mexico for around $1k last year on a last minute deal (I bit my tongue and didn't say yes for a 3 star you booked a week out - haha!)

Great review - I appreciate you took the time to put your thoughts down and share you special day with us ladies!! Everything looked beautiful, I love your colours!! Congrats and enjoy being newlyweds!!

Thanks for posting your review - it is always nice to feel reassured you have made a good choice for wedding venue, especially when I haven't seen it first hand! I love you dress and all the cute little touches you added to your wedding! Congrats to you and the new hubby!!

Now that I'm up to 150 posts I will definitely be borrowing some of out templates! Thanks again!!

This dress looks amazing! The back is fantasic and I love the lace - I think it will be hard to top it but have fun trying!

I did a STD with the address of our wedding website and requested people rsvp thru the website in order to help us know numbers for planning etc. Like a few others have said, I think most of my guests thought my STD was the invitation so they expected to RSVP after receiving the postcard. I definitely recommend RSVP now - knowing numbers early on can help plan etc.

I asked Pilar specifically about photographer and decor (meaning if I bring in my own items, but she thought I meant hiring an external company) and her response is below: If you bring your own photographer or videographer you need to pay $65usd If you bring your own company for decoration you need to pay $350 usd fee

I also found it frustrating that some resorts offered so little information online about wedding packages, ala carte pricing options etc - I emailed for additional information and as you would expect some resorts were very prompt (ie 2-3 days to reply) whereas other resorts were over a month...just to get the PDF of wedding packages! For our guests at Now Jade in early February 2013 it will be around $1400 per person (all taxes in) and that includes flights from Toronto. As a comparison Secrets resorts (priced for Jamaica) were almost $3000 pp. Iberostar (again in Jamaica) was around $2000 pp for rose hall suites (beach is less expensive, the grand is more). We are figuring we will likely have around 40 people at our wedding -- the packages at Jade are built for 25 people and then any additional guests cost above the package price so we will be paying out a bit but we loved the resort, the pricing and the inclusions in their wedding packages. Some resorts offer packages for larger groups (ie 40+ guests) but you may be looking at a semi-private reception or paying a fee to upgrade to private. On the flip side some resorts offer wedding packages for 8 people so if you have a group with you it would add up quite quickly! *For our guests above the 25 included in wedding package the cost will depend on exactly what items I select from the ala carte -- for example the package includes hor d'ouevres for 25 but I understand from previous brides they allot 6 pieces per person (which is lots) so you don't necessarily need to pay to upgrade hor d'oeuvres for everyone (especially since wedding party will miss cocktail hour for pictures), and since the wedding cake isn't usually eaten by all guests (esp. since dessert is included for the wedding dinner) it won't be necessary to purchase a larger wedding cake either. Right now I'm thinking I will pay the additional fee for the champagne toast and dinner (obviously - ha!) and not worry about the rest...Below are a few examples of pricing from the ala carte menu for additional items, just so you can get an idea. Champagne toast $4pp Wedding cake $5-7 pp Hor d'oeuvres $15pp Wedding dinner ~ $50pp Wow that was long-winded but I hope it was helpful! I found that all of the AM Resorts (Now, Dreams, Secrets, Zoetry) were very upfront with package pricing and how much extras (food, decor, music, pictures etc) cost - they have a PDF you can download on their website. It might give you some ballpark numbers to work with? Any other questions feel free to ask - I always take comfort hearing from other brides about their experiences!

Wow! Amazing view!! What a spectular backdrop for your wedding pictures!

We haven't decided 100% yet - one on hand we aren't very traditional (thus DW was a perfect fit!) but his parents are traditional and also all about proper ettiquette. If we decide to go with tradition he will probably stay in his brother's room the night before - that way I'll have our room for getting ready.

I agree with what JayKay has already said - definitely send each sib their own invite (sent individually). We did that even to people who were living with parents still (my younger sister and his younger brother) and I think they both appreciated it as they felt recognized as opposed to an add on to a parent invite. We also gave our younger sibs (and any singles) the option to bring a guest....not sure how many will use that option but again I thought it was a nice gesture and splitting a room with a friend is cheaper than the single supplement. Plus we thought single guests would appreciate the opportunity to bring a plus 1 (ie friend, sibling, date) since it is a week of vacation we want them to enjoy!

We included and guest for all of our single guests - our thinking on this being, if they are going to put out the money to come then its the least we could do (and we would extend an opportunity to bring a guest if we had gotten married at home). Also since we have a majority of guests who are couples we didn't think it would be much fun for a handful of singles not to have a plus 1. As much as the trip is for our wedding it is also everyone else's vacation, they have paid their money and taken vacation time to attend our wedding so we want to ensure they have the best time possible, if that means someone brings a friend or "date" we don't know all that well it is fine with us.

I don't think it would be tacky and definitely think you should go for it, especially if they are popular in your area and/or you know you will have enough friends/family/acquaintances to make a good nite (nothing worse than booking a hall and only have a handful of people in it) then go for it. S&Ds are fun and yes you will probably make some money for the couple because many people are happy to and want to support the couple (by way of purchasing drinks, raffle tickets, games etc), especially if they won't be at your DW. We were on the fence about having one but our friends have convinced us we definitely should - even if it is not the traditional social evening event, so we may do a pig roast or something like that.

Thanks for posting - definitely a good resource to check with!

In the past few years 2 of the weddings I have been in had the pick your own dress, just make it this colour idea for BM too. I bought both of my from Le Chateau (very similar to the one you describe) and loved them - plus they always look great in photos, you can't tell it is not from a bridal shop.

Beautiful! I love your dress and the punch of pink with your bouquet!! Thanks for sharing - it looks like everything was perfect!

They look great - I love how you incorporated the starfish into your napkin/placecard!

I did a postcard with important info on the back (ie wedding website, week of travel, resort name, ahr for those unable to attend etc) as a save the date but honestly with the number of responses from it I don't know if traditional invites will be necessary as many have rsvp'd already and/or gotten in touch with our TA. I guess my guests just assume this is the invite?!

First of all CONGRATS! It's a super exciting time, but picking a resort can be overwhelming! When I priced out St Lucia it was definitely pricey so we cut it from the list. Some resorts in Jamaica can also be quite pricey (Iberostar, Secrets) but others (Gran Bahai) were comparable to Mexico. In the end we went with Mexico as we found more resorts that offered true 5 star calibre lodgings/food/entertainment and the value per person was awesome! Some resorts we looked into (mostly in Jamaica) just didn't look quite as polished and modern. I would recommend figuring out what is most important to you and FI (ie MUST haves) and what would be nice to have. That helped me cut out any resorts that didn't meet the requirements for us. Then I compared resorts vs resorts in terms of amenities, reviews, wedding packages etc. Once I had a list of potential resorts I started collecting prices from a couple different TA's which helped me further narrow choices (ie Secrets properties look great but were quoted at double what I wanted guests to spend). Hopefully this helps - picking the resort is probably the most difficult part but I'm sure you will love where ever you end up!

Thanks for sharing your experience too - glad to know multiple brides have been happy with this seller!

Both are beautiful - I think the green may pop a bit more in the first pictures but I think the one you had made is more romantic with the softer hues!